Wounds in tissue are typically repaired using conventional wound closure devices such as surgical sutures and surgical staples. In addition, surgical glues and adhesives have been used to repair certain types of tissue, primarily exterior dermal wounds. In a typical wound caused by trauma or in an incision, the standard of care to repair the wound provides for approximating the opposed sides of the wound using some sort of mechanical device to securely maintain the sides of the closed wound in contact with each other until natural healing occurs. When using surgical sutures to approximate tissue, the suture is often knotted to form stitches in an interrupted suture repair. This knotting process is often difficult and is typically time consuming; additionally, the suturing and knotting process requires that the surgeon use both hands. Time is often of the essence when treating wounds and effecting a wound repair for several reasons, including stopping blood flow and protecting the underlying tissue from infection by pathogens in the environment.
There is a need in this art for novel tissue wound repair devices that are self-locking without the need to tie knots, and associated applicator instruments, for facilitating the repair of wounds in tissue. There is also a need for novel wound closure devices that can be applied and secured by the surgeon with the use of a single hand.